This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from the inventor""s application MICROWAVE OVEN filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on Sep. 22, 1999 and there duly assigned Ser. No. 410301/1999.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microwave oven, and more particularly to a microwave oven to be conveniently used by preventing the failing of a vessel containing food to be cooked even when the microwave oven is used in a vehicle in motion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is used in the kitchen where an alternating current power source is provided. Recently, new microwave ovens, which can be operated by both a direct current power source and an alternating power source, have been developed so that the microwave oven can be easily utilized outside of the kitchen as well as in.
A conventional microwave oven includes a cabinet which is divided into a cooking chamber and a driving chamber. Food to be cooked is placed in the cooking chamber. A circular guide groove is formed on the bottom of the driving chamber, while rollers of a rotating guide are positioned in the guide groove. A tray where a vessel containing food to be cooked is placed is loaded on the rollers of the rotation guide. The tray is detachably coupled with a driving shaft of a motor 8 so as to be rotated by the motor.
Meanwhile, the driving chamber of the cabinet is provided with several parts for supplying high frequency waves to the cooking chamber, such as a magnetron for generating the high frequency waves, and a wave guide for guiding the generated high frequency waves from the magnetron.
According to the conventional microwave oven as constructed above, the high frequency waves generated from the magnetron are supplied to the cooking chamber through the wave guide so that the food contained in the vessel is cooked. During the operation, the tray is rotationally supported by the rollers of the rotation guide and rotated by the motor so that the high frequency waves are evenly spread on the food.
However, the conventional microwave oven has drawbacks, that is, since there is no means for supporting the vessel containing the food in the cooking chamber, the vessel containing the food falls down and the food spills inside of the cooking chamber due to the vibration and shocks generated during the driving of the vehicle when the conventional microwave oven is loaded in the vehicle to be operated.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved microwave oven.
A further object of the invention is to provide a microwave oven which can be used in a vehicle in motion.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide a microwave oven which is less susceptible to spillage of food or cooking vessels due to shock or vibration.
The above objects are accomplished by a microwave oven according to the present invention, which includes: a cabinet having a cooking chamber and a driving chamber; a high frequency generating section for generating high frequency waves and supplying the high frequency waves to the cooking chamber; and a vessel supporting section for supporting a vessel containing food in the cooking chamber so as to prevent the vessel from falling due to a vibration and/or shocks.
Here, the vessel supporting section includes at least a supporting ring for receiving and supporting the vessel in the cooking chamber, while the supporting ring may be directly installed one of inner walls of the cooking chamber or installed to a supporting member which is selectively provided in the cooking chamber.
According to the preferred embodiment, the supporting ring is separated into two members, while the two members are elastically biased in a direction wherein the leading ends of the two members face each other and are pivotally installed at the inner wall of the cooking chamber by a hinge pin.
According to the preferred embodiment, the microwave oven further includes a tray being provided in the cooking chamber and the vessel is placed thereon; and a tray driving section installed in the driving chamber for rotatably driving the tray.
According to the microwave oven of the present invention, since the cooking operation is performed in a state that the vessel containing food is fixed to be prevented from swaying by the vessel supporting section, the vessel containing food does not fall down even when the vibration and/or the external shocks are applied to the vessel. Accordingly, the cooking operation may be conveniently performed even when the microwave oven is used in a vehicle in motion.